"There are some warriors on this team, though," Brisbane said with obvious eagerness.

They've never been to a national competition, but "none of them are not looking forward to it," she said. "They're excited. I'm looking forward to them being in national-international competition. Just to watch them.

"They'll find out. All the work they've done has meaning. All the work they didn't do has consequences."

Six slam-poets from Stockton's With Our Words are discovering that reality today as they start competing against the country's best during the Brave New Voices national tournament at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Some of them never had traveled on an airplane until they departed Wednesday.

Even their new coach - Melchor "Buddy" Sahagun - is a novice at this level.

"We're definitely really, really excited," said Carina Burgher, 18, one of his WOW students who's testing their slam-poetry skills on a national audience for the first time. "It's an incredible opportunity. The entire team worked really hard to get where we are. We feel very confident we can make it far in the competition."

That has yet to happen, though the team - founded in 2005 by Tama Brisbane and her husband, Aaron - has competed at the national tournament for eight straight years. The six students won the city championships on April 26.

Burgher teams up with David Mendez, 17, from Franklin High School; Anthony Orosco Jr., 16, and Alexa Anicas, 18, from one.Charter Douglas school; and Lavell Jackson, 18, from San Joaquin Delta College.

They'll be the focus for awhile , though, during an "important" national town hall meeting, Brisbane said, when "Broken City Poets," a 2012 documentary by the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Investigative Journalism is shown. It includes "Stockton," a poem four of her students wrote in reaction to the city of Stockton's bankruptcy.

"It was an homage to Stockton," said Burgher, a Stockton Collegiate International graduate who's a deep-water rower planning to study for a career in athletic nutrition at Oregon State University in Corvallis. "It was combatting the belief the Stockton perspective that represents Stockton from an outsider's perspective.

"While it has a reputation for reasons, it's still home to those who've been successful. It's our home. A love poem to Stockton."

Sahagun, 30, has written and recited slam-poems at the adult level - competing in Berkeley Oakland and Stockton. He's also emceed during open-mic poetry nights - Wednesdays and Thursdays - at Stockton's Empresso Cafe. So far, it's been a big "wow" for him.

"Oh, it's fantastic," said Sahagun, 30, a Stagg High graduate who's been tutoring the poetry competitors for five weeks. "I never knew how enriching it is working with young people. It can be seen in the positive effects they can have on you. I've been loving every minute of it."

So has Mendez. Though "at this point it's a little bit overwhelming at times," he said. "I really don't know what to expect. I just have to see how it goes. You just go out and state your piece and see what you're on the team for. To cause that brave new voice."

Mendez, born in Hayward, is ready for it to be heard. "Greasers" - he and Orosco's three-minute poem - defuses a one-time racial epithet actually being as a "very culturally rich term a lot of people don't know about."

Being raised in Stockton by two aunts and his grandmother, Mendez's favorite solo poem involves an "encounter with the lady, but I do not have courage to speak with her.

"Poetry definitely has given me the courage to be more open about letting my voice get out there. I'm feeling, hopefully, I can help touch some people like me who keep their emotions bottled up inside."

Burgher's best solo is intentionally ironic, though she's trying to make a connection, too.

"Happy" confronts the "struggle of having an eating disorder," she said. "Wanting to get help but feeling alienated because part of the disorder you brought on to yourself. It's hard to explain the struggle. I try to give awareness to it and others who are struggling on their own."

Burgher has managed to control her eating disorder for eight months after struggling with it for five years.

"It's an incredible learning experience," she said. "There's nothing like it. Where you can learn so much."

Poetry helped give Sahagun a similar focus.

"I was in my early 20s and a little, you know, all over the place," he said. "I'm getting a chance to grow up this time."

"He's amazing," said Brisbane, appreciative of Sahagun's assistance and coaching commitment. "Oh, my goodness. He's so great. He keeps telling us, 'Thank you.' He's really good at helping them break through and soothe over the puffy paths and grasping some abstract concepts. His poetry is so amazing, too.

"It's a love affair. Instant connections with everybody being the being first time. They've formed some strong bonds."

The students compete in a variety of configurations, from one to five, leading to Sunday's final rounds.

Sahagun's doing more guiding, encouraging and supporting than rhyming. He shares Brisbane's sentiment.

"It's amazing to see such young people who are so passionate," Sahaguin said. "So formative. So creative with such an all-encompassing capacity for emotion. Way beyond years. It blows me away, their talents, writing and characters."

Contact Tony Sauro at (209) 546-8267 or tsauro@recordnet.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsaurorecord.

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